AN ANCIENT GAME

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 99, 29 March 1937, Page 4

AN ANCIENT GAME

CRICKET IN THE EARLY DAYS. Cricket is a good deal in the thoughts of people) to-day as a result of the presence in the Dominion of the English team. Cricket is one of the oldest games in England, and is now essentially British. It lias its devotees everywhere in the Empire, except perhaps Canada. Cricket is believedi to have orginated in England as far back as 1200. There is a mention of a game called “cricks” .in the twelfth century, and the Normans had a club ball game which was its forerunner. Chaucer mentions cricket in the Canterbury ’Tales. Clapham Common was the scene of a cricket match in 1700, and there are records of a game between Kent and Chatham five years later. Kent has always been very keen on the game and in 1719 when they challenged London, they even went to law to ensure tho game being played. The Gentlemen of Kent played the Gentlemen of Sussex in 1734, on a ground near Sevenoaks. Two hundred years later in Jjily 1934, a similar match was played the two elevens dressing in tho costumes of their eighteenth century predecessors. Old customs were observed, tho scores were kept by notches on a stick, and more interesting still the captains a Saekville and a Gage, were the direct descendants of the captains of 1734. Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George 11, was keenly interested in cricket and played as often as he was able. Lord Byron played cricket despite liis limp, and represented Harrow in the first match against Ston in 1805. Gambling flourished in the early days of cricket, £SOO being the usual stake on a match, but this was sometimes increased to a thousand guineas. A worse feature was the cheating that accompanied it. Men acted as bookies on the pavilion steps and were not above circulating false rumours to influence tlie betting. There are several well-authenticated cases of umpires being taken to tlie village pump by tnc losing team. Gradually these abuses were eradicated as tho game became more popular. Only two stumps and a single bail across was used at first and there was a hole between the stumps. If the batsman put his hat into this hole before the wicket-keeper could put the ball there he saved himself from being run oiit. Only in 1817 was the third stump and the popping crease instituted and the present dimensions of the wicket settled. These developments came after the foundation of tlie great clubs.

A woman’s initiative was responsible for one of the most important features of the game, overarm howling. John Willes, tho famous Kent player, who died in 1852, practised cricket in the garden with his sister and his daughters. Tired of the slow underarm pitches one of the girls experimented with an over-arm throw, shattering her father’s wicket. John Willes realised the possibilities of the new departure, and it soon became a prominent ami integral part of the game. Tho girlsrtiave taken to the game, ami perhaps in n year or two we shall he acclaiming a female Hobbs or Bradman.